Event name: Careers For Change: Storytellers

Event time and place:5:30-7:30 on September 19th at the Reservoir Center for Water Solutions

This presentation was about the importance of storytelling, particularly in the water industry. storytelling is important to communicate the issues that we could face in the future related to water, and can be used to call people to action. By sparking an interest in people on these issues, we could inspire people to further research those issues, come up with new solutions, and spread awareness on said issues. There were many speakers that talked about their career trajectory and how storytelling is intertwined with their careers. The event was mainly centered around networking. One of the presenters was a photographer who talked about how photography can be used to frame a situation. Depending on the composition of a picture, the same subject could be interpreted by the viewer completely differently. Another presenter was a part of a cartoon that teaches children about water systems.

I can see how important storytelling is in creating change. It is important to engage the general public in science and include them in advocacy. The public can be an important resource for scientists. For example, in ANTH240, we recently talked about the ways that non-archeologists can also contribute to the surveying process. Locals can provide context for different artifacts and features, which enriches our understanding of that site. Using the internet, regular people can also help identify features like walls and buildings through aerial pictures. Clearly, non-archeologists can also contribute to the pursuit of archeological knowledge. I think this applies to all science, including the water industry. While it’s easy to establish that it’s important to include non academics in discussions of science, it is difficult to bring them in. Many people view science as dangerous and weird, which Carl Sagan also touches on in his book, “The Demon Haunted World”. Sagan attributes this to the portrayal of scientists on television as detached from humanity and the accessibility of pseudoscience. If science had the marketing that pseudoscience does, science would flourish.

This is where storytelling comes in. Storytelling can help destigmatize science through the use of rhetorical devices. You can choose how you want to frame a subject in a story. The same actions can be painted as benevolent or malicious. For example, in “The Demon Haunted World”, Sagan talks about how scientists are portrayed negatively in the media, but children’s shows like Bill Nye portray it positively by making it seem accessible and interesting, as opposed to boring and complicated. Bill Nye and the other shows might be about the same subject, but Bill Nye communicates it in a way that’s easy to understand.

While I agree that storytelling is important to inform the public on science related issues, specifically issues in the water industry, I don’t think that this presentation was effective at communicating that message. The actual presentation was very short and there were a lot of technical difficulties. The event was mainly focused on networking and most of the people that were there seemed like they already agreed with what the presenters were saying. Their main strategy to convince us that storytelling is important was through appeals to pathos and anecdotes. The presenters each talked about what inspired them to pursue a career that involves story telling. A couple of them told childhood stories that seemed like they were meant to make us think about stories from our childhood that could persuade us to pursue a career that uses storytelling.